


Look (Don't Touch)

by Kalloway



Series: Leon/Cloud 30Kinks Fics [2]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Kingdom Hearts 2-Era, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-09-23 12:49:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17080628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kalloway/pseuds/Kalloway
Summary: Cloud comes home but needs some time to himself.





	Look (Don't Touch)

**Author's Note:**

> for a long-ago prompt on _30kinks, 'look but don't touch' (alas didn't end up very kinky?)
> 
> Originally posted May 17th, 2015

"Where have you been?" Leon questioned as Cloud dragged himself into the house. Leon could smell the darkness on him. There was a heavy metallic tang to the air that made Leon want to edge over to open the windows and then start casting everything he could think of to help Cloud clean up.

Cloud took the dirty jobs on purpose. He knew he could handle them, at least most of the time. Sometimes he got into trouble, but he always got out. Leon couldn't fault him for doing the work he could do. For doing the things...

He hadn't realized how he'd sounded, but Cloud's expression spoke volumes. Cloud, absolutely, did not want to talk about it.

"I meant that as more of... Is there anything you need?" Leon tried again, wincing. Welcome home, Cloud... He'd really put his foot in his mouth.

"Just... let me clean up, keep back," Cloud replied. Then he echoed Leon's wince. "Not... like that. Just gotta get my head straight. I'm okay being here."

Leon knew better than anything that at this point, Cloud wouldn't be there if Cloud couldn't handle being there. He'd hole up elsewhere, with Aerith, somewhere in the castle, out under a ledge in the crystal fissure where Leon had found him more than once, or a dozen other places.

Cloud had come back to him, even if Cloud wasn't quite ready for anything other than breathing the same air.

Once Cloud had shuffled off towards the back of the house, Leon moved to open the windows. He cast a few spells at the cloak and boots that Cloud had left by the door. And then he headed for the kitchen, it being about the safest place he could think of and a place where he could distract himself from wanting to check on Cloud. He heard the water turn on in the bathroom. Good...

They'd never defined themselves -- housemates, roommates, bedmates, friends, lovers, partners... They'd never needed to. Leon checked to make sure there was enough food for the both of them at least til morning. He'd been contemplating a trip to the store, but then Cloud...

A low groan and crash from the bathroom broke Leon's resolve. At least Cloud hadn't locked the door, not that Leon thought that would have stopped him for more than a second or two.

"Cloud?" Leon knew he was breaking a rule but he couldn't help himself. Kicking thru the pile of Cloud's clothing, he shoved the shower curtain aside. Cloud was down on his knees in the tub, surrounded by bottles of shampoo and body wash that had been pulled down from shallow ledges.

"Don't--" Cloud plead as he looked up at Leon, eyes half-vacant. Leon could see dirt streaming off Cloud under the warm water's touch. Black and swirling and... not dirt at all, but darkness, rising in whorls then splattered back down to circle the drain and vanish. "Don't touch me."

"I heard the crash," Leon half-whispered. He couldn't look away. Part of him wanted to just pull Cloud close and tell him he didn't have to keep doing this to himself. They'd find another who could cross into the darkness and come back. Cloud wouldn't have to...

"Clumsy," Cloud muttered. "I reached with my eyes closed, hit my hand, knocked the bottles..."

"You're okay?" Leon questioned as he finally tore his gaze away from Cloud and he black pouring off of him.

"I'm fine," Cloud replied. "Doing what Aerith taught me. But... thanks for checking."

Cloud smiled softly, a bit of his focus returning. That relaxed Leon, who stepped back and closed the curtain.

"I'll be in the kitchen," he called as he closed the bathroom door. He should have grabbed Cloud's clothing and tossed it into the basement. He should have...

He trusted Cloud to make the right decisions. Yes...

Leon had given up on anything more productive than reading over a pile of barely-legible memos from Cid by the time Cloud appeared in the kitchen. He looked younger, somehow, clothed in pajamas that Leon knew Aerith had given him and with his hair still damp enough that it didn't yet turn into endless spikes. He looked clean.

"I feel better," he said quickly. "Not... ready to talk about it, but I feel better."

"There's food." Leon set the memos down and unconsciously tapped them into a neat, straight packet and started to stand.

Cloud shook his head quickly. "Don't get up. I still don't..." He paused and looked around. "You opened all the windows."

"Hit your boots with a few things, too," Leon admitted. "I..."

But Cloud just laughed. Leon frowned, but Cloud shook his head.

"Saves me the trouble. Saves me the energy, too. I need to sleep." Cloud glanced between Leon and the fridge and the doorway...

"Maybe something to eat first," he continued. "And I'll let you know when... when..."

Leon nodded quickly. He knew. This wasn't the first time after all. More than once, Cloud had come home and kept his distance, edging away. Leon understood. And he understood when it all shifted and Cloud needed contact, needed to be naked and just needed... He'd be where he needed to be.

Until then, he'd just look, not touch.

And perhaps start a load of laundry, too.


End file.
